Twenty-Five Years Ago Remember When? Chet Dudzinski
The students from the Upper St. Clair High School Class of 2013 are well on their way to establishing careers and families and making their mark. In 1994, as the publishers of UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY birthed their own baby, this class had yet to enter the world. What was happening around us as they became our future? Let’s take a look. For mothers of the Class of 2013, January births were a chilling There were cold days in January 2019, but not cold enough to be experience. The Polar Vortex of 2019 was the little baby brother to record-setting. the historical weather in January 1994. A cold wave impacted the entire midwestern and eastern U.S. and southern Canada, with two notable cold air events occurring from January 18 to 22. While in January 2019 the lowest recorded temperature was minus five degrees Fahrenheit over a two-day span, the high temperature in Pittsburgh in 1994 was negative three degrees, with a record-setting negative 22 degrees, which remains a record low in the region. Tragedy struck the Pittsburgh area. On September 8, 1994, USAir Flight 427 from Chicago to Pittsburgh crashed, when attempting to maneuver a landing after experiencing a wake from another craft. All 132 people aboard perished, including, sadly, ten Upper St. Clair residents—Robert Connelly, Bernard Koch, Paul McSherry, Davick Musick, Lee Weaver, and the entire Earl and Kathleen Weaver family, including their children Bryan (16), Lindsey (11), and Scott (7). Strangely, Tranquilly situated alongside the Weavers were returning home from a family funeral. Chartiers Creek behind the USC How do you keep a Millennial away from an iPhone? In 1994, municipal building is the memorial to residents who perished on it was easy; it was not yet invented! The iPhone would not be those USCUSAir Flight 427. introduced until 2008, when the Class of 2013 was entering their budding teenage years. In fact, in 1994, there were only 24 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S., compared to today’s estimated 265 million subscribers that represent approximately 75% of the By today’s standards, the first cordless telephone was quite clumsy, quite large, entire country’s population. The gadget itself, with its extended and had limited capabilities of only antenna and weighing about a pound, featured little to no functionmaking phone calls and sending faxes. ality, other than to make a phone call. And you’d better talk fast; a one-minute call cost about a dollar! Emailing was an emerging thing in 1994, while texting, or short messaging service (SMS), was still on the drawing board and invented a year later. Also in 1994, the World Wide Web was born, known today as the Internet. Pop culture presented compelling stories in 1994 and included the names Tanya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and OJ Simpson. At the U.S. figure skating championships, Harding’s ex-husband and others attacked Kerrigan, preventing her from skating, effectively giving the title (later rescinded) to Harding. Perhaps nothing tops the Simpson 60-mile “slow-speed chase” down Los Angeles The 1994 animated movie The Lion with musical composers Elton highways and the following murder charges lodged against the King, John and Hans Zimmer, shares the Heisman Trophy-winning football running back. In 1994, the mar- story of Simba, Mafusa, and Scar riage of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson occurred, which and their power struggles to rule the land. lasted two years. Hollywood offered some memorable movie classics, including The Shawshank Redemption, Forest Gump, The Lion King, and for those with different tastes, Dumb and Dumber. Certain political events captured our attention. President Bill Clinton began his Nelson Mandela (1918–2013), an activist who was arrested, imprisoned, and then first full year in office in 1994 and was welelected the president of South Africa comed by the Republicans’ “Contract with 1994–1999, led the beginning of that county’s multicultural democracy and an America.” In other notable elections, Rudy end to apartheid minority rule. Giuliani became mayor of New York, and in the first multi-racial election in the history of South Africa, Nelson Mandela Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh’s multi-purpose stadium, pledged full racial integration as the first non-white president of that country. Cont. on page 94
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UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
Summer 2019
was used from 1970 to 2000 and home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers. After its closing, the stadium was imploded in 2001, and the Pirates and Steelers moved into newly built stadiums, PNC Park and Heinz Field, respectively, where the teams continue to play today.
